Immigration Group Tests Claim That Americans Won’t Do Some Jobs

(CNSNews.com) – Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has released an analysis showing that only 1% of the U.S. workforce is employed at jobs that are held by legal and illegal immigrants.

Among the findings of the analysis: Of the 472 civilian occupations, only six are majority immigrant (legal and illegal). These six occupations account for 1 percent of the total U.S. workforce. Moreover, native-born Americans comprise 46 percent of workers even in these [six] occupations.

“Thus, there really are no jobs that Americans won’t do,” the summary of the analysis states.

The analysis shows that even in jobs popularly thought to be taken by (legal and illegal) immigrants, the majority are taken by native-born workers:

• Maids and housekeepers: 51% native-born

• Taxi drivers and chauffeurs: 58% native-born

• Butchers and meat processors: 63% native-born

• Grounds maintenance workers: 64% native-born

• Construction laborers: 66% native-born

• Porters, bellhops and concierges: 72% native-born

• Janitors: 73% native-born

For the workforce that is comprised of illegal immigrants, the analysis found that there are not occupations in the United States in which the majority of workers are in the country illegally.

The six occupations that comprise the largest share of illegal immigrants are construction, cleaning, maintenance, food service, garment manufacturing and agricultural occupations.

The methodology of the analysis comes from the U.S. Census Bureaus’ American Community Survey (ACS) for 2009-2011. The file includes 4.5 million individuals in the civilian, non-institutional labor force -- about 630,000 of those are immigrants.

The CIS also used the number of illegal immigrant estimates from the Department of Homeland Security, which is 11.1 million.

“It is important to understand that the possible impact of immigration on the labor market opportunities of natives is not confined to those who are in the labor force,” the discussion portion of the analysis states. “The ACS shows nearly 40 million native-born Americans ages 18 to 65 not in the labor force.”

“It is very possible that one of the ways immigration impacts natives is by reducing the share who are employed or in the labor force at any time,” the text states.